Annabeth's Point of View

The Last Olympion - Choice

The sight of Percy made my stomach do gymnastic rutenes. He stood with our friends, tall and powerful looking but still managing to look like himself - like the boy who had just realised he was a demigod.

His hair was tousled, as though he just had a nice walk down the beach, his sea green eyes were wide and dazed out (probably trying to block out Zeus' speech of the gods' bravery), but he did look like someone who had just saved the world.

I walked over to him and saw him blink. He gave me a once over and smiled - that sarcastic, troublemaker smile I had once found annoying but was now slightly endearing.

"Miss much?" I whispered, not wanting to be heard from the gods.

"Nobody's planning to kill us, so far," Percy whispered back.

"First time today." I joked weakly.

Percy laughed, not even bothering to cover it up. I smirked but didn't laugh with him, the gods are easily offended. Grover eventually nudged Percy because Hera was starting to give us a dirty look.

"As for my brothers," Zeus said, "we are thankful"—he had a pained expression on his face, the same expression Thalia usually got when someone told her what to do. I knew this must be difficult for him—"erm, thankful for the aid of Hades."

Hades nodded smugly, obviously enjoying Zeus' pain in saying this. He patted Nico on the shoulder, and Nico looked happier then I remembered him to be.

"And, of course," Zeus continued. Now he looked similar to the way Thalia looked when Percy told her what to do. The similarities were both funny and disturbing at the same time. "we must . . . um ... thank Poseidon."

"I'm sorry, brother," Poseidon said, smiling. His smile was the same as Percy's, and their faces were very similar - except the beard - Annabeth would have forced Percy to shave if he had a beard like that. "What was that?"

"We must thank Poseidon," Zeus growled, not even looking at him. "Without whom . . . it would've been difficult—"

"Difficult?" Poseidon asked innocently. Now I really did see Percy in Poseidon's features - I didn't know whether to be amused, or very very annoyed.

"Impossible," Zeus sighed. "Impossible to defeat Typhon."

The gods murmured agreement and pounded their weapons in approval.

"Which leaves us," Zeus said, "only the matter of thanking our young demigod heroes, who defended

Olympus so well—even if there are a few dents in my throne."

Athena's throne, I noticed with a hint of pleasure, didn't have any marks on it at all - neither did Poseidon's. I glanced at Percy to see him smirking over at Ares' throne, which was pretty beat up. I assumed he protected only the ones he wanted to.

Thalia was called up first, and I knew she liked that. I doubt she would be pleased to be treated second best. She was promised help in filling the hunters' ranks.

Artemis smiled. "You have done well, my lieutenant. You have made me proud, and all those Hunters

who perished in my service will never be forgotten. They will achieve Elysium, I am sure."

Her soft expression hardened when she looked a Hades - who was, though immortal, stil male.

He ignored this and shrugged. "Probably."

Artemis' hard expression turned into a full on glare.

"Okay," Hades grumbled. "I'll streamline their application process."